The present invention relates to a motor vehicle door hinge with integrated braking and holding function, including a first hinge half fastenable to one door arrangement part, namely door or door pillar, and a second hinge half fastenable to the other door arrangement part and also a hinge pin pivotably connecting the two hinge halves to one another, the hinge pin consisting of a solid material and being arranged in at least one hinge lug of one hinge half with a running fit, but in at least one hinge lug of the other hinge half with a firm fit, and a braking and holding device integrated into the hinge comprising at least one spring-loaded braking and holding body and which co-operates with a circumferential hinge-pin profiling extending over part of the circumference of said hinge Din and which is oriented radially to the hinge pin.
The aim of such or comparably designed integration of a braking and holding function into a motor vehicle door hinge is to provide a small-size combination of door stop and door hinge which is suitable for exerting high braking and holding forces and which is distinguished by the utilization of parts present in any case in the hinge and by the smallest possible number of components and the simplest possible mountability.
A motor vehicle door hinge of the abovementioned type with integrated braking and holding function is known, for example, from European Patent application No. EP-A 0 816 610 and is distinguished essentially in that the braking and holding function is formed as a whole from a cylinder housing connected fixedly in terms of rotation to one of the door arrangement parts and from a cylinder plug received in the cylinder housing and connected fixedly in terms of rotation to the other door arrangement part and also from at least one braking and holding body arranged radially adjustably in one part, namely a cylinder housing or cylinder plug, the cylinder plug being formed by a length portion of the hinge pin. Although such accommodation of the braking and holding device in a closed cylinder housing ensures not only small-size execution and assignment, but also an absolutely leak-tight design of the door stop, so that any impairment of the braking and holding functions of the door stop due to the painting of the vehicle body and a subsequent escape of abrasion or other dirt possibly occurring during operation are both ruled out, nevertheless, on the other hand, it has the disadvantage that the door cannot be stopped in a step-free manner and there is therefore the risk that noise would be generated during operation. Moreover, the known braking and holding device necessitates the production and mounting of a multiplicity of individual parts and is therefore relatively complicated.
Furthermore, in order to achieve continuous braking and step-free stopping of the vehicle door in motor vehicle door hinges with an integrated braking and holding function, it has already also been proposed to secure the hinge pin fixedly in terms of rotation in the hinge lug or hinge lugs of a first hinge half and to equip it, over its length passing through the hinge lug of the other hinge half in which it is to have a running fit, with at least one radially ascending wedge surface and to assign to the latter at least one wedge surface radially ascending on the inner circumference of the hinge-lug bore of the associated hinge lug of the second hinge half, in which case the two wedge surfaces must have identical pitches such that they form pairs of wedge surfaces which, over their entire overlap region, bear on one another essentially over a large area German Patent No. (DE-C 44 06 824). Although this configuration of a braking and holding device has the attractive benefit that no additional components are necessary to implement it and that, furthermore, the overall size of the hinge is not influenced or is influenced only insignificantly, it nevertheless has the disadvantage that, to achieve the desired braking and holding action, the wedge surfaces must have, on the one hand, a wedge surface ascending at a very low angle and, on the other hand, a flank surface descending at a steep angle, thus resulting in a considerable outlay in production terms both for the hinge pin and for the hinge-lug bore, particularly because the mutually co-operating wedge surfaces on the hinge pin, on the one hand, and on the inner circumference of the hinge-lug bore, on the other hand, have to be manufactured with the highest possible precision which can scarcely be achieved in mass production. Insofar as the criterion of highest possible precision is not fulfilled or is fulfilled only inadequately, either a sufficient inhibiting action cannot be achieved or premature wear occurs.
The object on which the present invention is based is to improve a door stop capable of being integrated into a door hinge and, at the same time, a, in particular, demountable motor vehicle door hinge equipped with an integrated door stop, to the effect that the door stop as a whole is designed to have as small a size as possible, even in the case of a maximum door opening angle of up to 270xc2x0, and has a closed design in the same way, and that, furthermore, the holding forces of the door stop are adjustable, even subsequently, at any desired moment and with regard to the mounting of the hinge or stop on the vehicle body, and adjustability is to be afforded, irrespective of whether the door stop is designed to be integrated into a door hinge or as a stop independent of the door hinges.
The object on which the present invention is based is, therefore, to provide a motor vehicle door hinge with integrated braking and holding function, which, whilst having the simplest possible form of construction, ensures, over a predetermined permitted opening angle of the door, an increasing braking of the opening movement of the door and, conversely, an increasingly easier closing movement of said door and at a selected opening angle contains a limit stop for the motor vehicle door and, furthermore, in which, on the one hand, the painting of the vehicle body cannot lead to any impairment in functioning and, on the other hand, the operation of a vehicle door or the operating mode of the door stop cannot lead to any paint or dirt abrasion.
Proceeding from a motor vehicle door hinge of the type described in the introduction, this object is may be achieved, according to the present invention, in that the circumferential hinge-pin profiling extending over part of the circumference of said hinge pin forms a braking ramp having a contour profile continuously ascending in the door opening direction and the braking and holding body co-operating with said braking ramp is designed as a frictional body,
This configuration of a braking and holding device is distinguished, in the first place, in that, in order to implement it on or as integrated into a motor vehicle door hinge, it is necessary, in principle, to have only two additional parts, specifically the braking and holding body and a loading spring. At the same time, the design according to the present invention of a braking and holding device integrated into a door hinge makes it possible to exert continuously rising or falling braking and holding forces, with the obvious possibility of being able to adapt these in a simple way, without additional outlay, to any desired profile of force rise or of force fall by the configuration or modification of the contour shape of the braking ramp. Since, in the braking and holding device designed according to the present invention, the braking forces are exerted and supported solely within a hinge lug, such a braking and holding device is also suitable for use in conjunction with any desired type of door hinges, that is to say both single-shear and double-shear door hinges. Furthermore, the braking and holding device according to the present invention allows a wide range of different embodiments which, on the one hand, are adaptable to the respective hinge shape or hinge type and, on the other hand, can be designed according to the necessary braking forces.
In a simple and preferred embodiment, there is provision for the braking ramp to be formed in the bottom of a radial hinge-pin recess extending over part of the circumference of said hinge pin, the radial hinge-pin recess which contains the braking ramp being arranged within that region of said hinge pin which passes through the or one of the hinge lugs in which it has a running fit and extending over part of the height of the hinge lug and only over a circumferential hinge-pin region corresponding to the permitted maximum opening angle of the door.
In order to ensure a reliable limitation of the maximum door opening angle, there is provision, further, for the radial hinge-pin recess which contains the braking ramp to be delimited in the door opening direction by an opening limit stop co-operating with the braking and holding body, the opening limit stop which co-operates with the braking and holding body being formed advantageously by a stop strip inserted into the radial hinge-pin recess which contains the braking ramp.
In a further configuration of the preferred embodiment of a motor vehicle door hinge equipped with an integrated braking and holding device, there is expediently provision, further, for the braking and holding body to be received radially relative to the hinge pin in the hinge half containing that hinge lug in which the hinge pin has a running fit and to be acted upon by a spring load in the direction of the hinge pin. In this respect, a favourable individual embodiment is seen in that the braking and holding body has a height corresponding at least approximately to the height of the radial hinge-pin recess.
With a view to a small-size accommodation of the braking and holding device within the hinge, there is provision for the braking and holding body to have a rectangular cross-section and shape and to be received longitudinally displaceably, on edge, in a pocket-like recess, issuing into the hinge lug, of the hinge plate of that hinge half in the hinge lug of which the hinge pin has a running fit.
In conjunction with such a design and accommodation of a braking and holding body, a preferred feature of the present invention provides, furthermore, for a loading spring assigned to the braking and holding body to be designed as a helical spring and, in an arrangement oriented axially parallel to the hinge axis, on the one hand, to be supported against a cover closing the pocket-like recess in the hinge plate and, on the other hand, to engage by means of a force deflection device on that end of the braking and holding body which faces away from the hinge pin. In this case, an embodiment, capable of being implemented and mounted without high outlay, of the force deflection device assigned to the loading spring designed as a helical spring is obtained in that the deflection is formed by a wedge body which is acted upon by the loading spring and which, on the one hand, is supported against a back surface, inclined relative to the hinge axis, of the pocket-like recess and engages on the smooth-surface rear side of the braking and holding body, said rear side being oriented parallel to the hinge axis.
For the purpose of integrating the braking and holding device into the hinge as far as possible, in a further embodiment of the present invention there is also expediently provision for closing off by means of a cover part the pocket-like recess, receiving the braking and holding body and oriented radially to the hinge axis, of the pivotable hinge half, a screw bolt assigned to the fastening of the cover part at the same time passing through a bore recess in the braking and holding body, said bore recess expediently being designed as an oversize bore.
An action which is virtually completely wear-free and silent over the lifetime of the hinge and therefore of the braking and holding device is achieved, in a braking and holding device of the preferred embodiment, essentially in that the hinge mounting and the braking and holding device arranged in the latter are equipped with once-only lifetime lubrication. For this purpose, according to an expedient individual embodiment, a door hinge configuration suitable for ensuring such lifetime lubrication provides for there to be formed on the hinge pin, in conjunction with a hood-like design, engaging over the hinge pin, of the hinge lug of the hinge half pivotable relative to the hinge pin and containing the braking and holding body, a radially projecting collar which engages over the open side of the hinge lug, and for the hinge lug, engaging in a hood-like manner over the hinge pin, of the pivotable hinge half to be sealed off by means of a sealing disc inserted between its open end face and the radially projecting collar of the hinge pin.
However, in a modified configuration of the design according to the invention of braking and holding devices, said configuration being assigned to achieving non-linearly rising braking forces or non-linearly falling closing forces of a braking and holding device integrated into a door hinge, there may also be provision for the braking ramp formed in the bottom of a radial hinge-pin recess extending over part of the circumference of said hinge pin to have a discontinuous pitch from its end assigned to the closing position of the door to its end assigned to the opening end position of the door.
Finally, an advantageous development of a door hinge equipped with a braking and holding device according to the present invention may also be distinguished in that the rotationally fixed securing of the hinge pin to the other hinge half is assigned an essentially hood-like hinge lug of the other hinge half, said hinge lug receiving an associated length portion of the hinge pin and being equipped with a Hirth-type serration, and a screw holding the Hirth-type serration in engagement and passing through the end wall of the hood-shaped hinge lug.
The present invention is described in detail in the following example description by means of an exemplary embodiment illustrated in the drawing in which: